Any custom computer builders out there?

[pmp]

The situation now is much better than it was 5 years ago. I have done system building, business analysis, and consuting for many years. It wasn't long ago that to get 512 mb video ram you were dropping 5 bills. Now its standard on all 100 dollar graphics cards. And with stuff like the mid-ranged 9800gt out for under 150, this is a buyers market on graphics cards.

As to the notion that stuff is outdated... outdated doesn't mean useless. You can drop under 150 bucks on a graphics card that will play any game made quite respectably. Trying to future proof your rig by positioning yourself on the cutting edge with each release is a waste. Games just aren't there yet.

[ggiese]

I was cleaning up over the weekend and came across a brand-new-in-the-package Radio Shack 1K static RAM chip - in case anyone needs it for their expansion interface.

[Kenyth]

I was cleaning up over the weekend and came across a brand-new-in-the-package Radio Shack 1K static RAM chip - in case anyone needs it for their expansion interface.

Dude! You're killing me here!

Next you'll be bragging on upgrading your intel 8086 to dual 5 1/4" floppy drives and dreaming of the day you can afford one of those new high capacity 10MB fixed hard drives.


Hercules graphics rule! Theoretical 720×350 resolution man!

[ggiese]

Dude! You're killing me here!

Next you'll be bragging on upgrading your intel 8086 to dual 5 1/4" floppy drives and dreaming of the day you can afford one of those new high capacity 10MB fixed hard drives.


Hercules graphics rule! Theoretical 720×350 resolution man!

I hate to brag - but I do have my eye on a Radio Shack Model 4 with dual 5 1/4" floppies and a green screen (I hear it's easier on the eyes)...

Hercules graphics... I hear good things about it. Not seen one yet, but I figure something will probably pop up at the HamFest this summer.

Hey - don't know if you heard this. You can PUNCH a hole on the on the opposite side of those disks and make dual sided floppies out of 'em.

10 MB fixed drive is out of the budget at the moment...

[Kenyth]

Commodore VIC-20! The wonder computer of the 80's! The ultimate in affordable home computing! 5K of built in RAM, expandable! Save money on hardware! The keyboard and Basic language are built right in to the case! No more seperate components or loading from expensive 5 1/4 floppies! Displays right on your home color television! Use regular inexpensive cassette tapes to store your data!




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUEI7mm8M7Q

[Mangyrat]

Commodore VIC-20! The wonder computer of the 80's! The ultimate in affordable home computing! 5K of built in RAM, expandable! Save money on hardware! The keyboard and Basic language are built right in to the case! No more seperate components or loading from expensive 5 1/4 floppies! Displays right on your home color television! Use regular inexpensive cassette tapes to store your data!




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUEI7mm8M7Q

hell i had one of them damn good toy for its time.

READY--> Run

[bigwhiteash]

I remember spending endless hours keying in "Commodore Basic" code from Compute's Gazette into my C-64!

something like this...

10 print "Cello On or Off?"
20 input c
30 if c=On goto50
40 if c=Off goto60
50 print "n00b" goto10
60 print "WRONG ANSWER" goto10



run

[MarineOne]

The situation now is much better than it was 5 years ago. I have done system building, business analysis, and consuting for many years. It wasn't long ago that to get 512 mb video ram you were dropping 5 bills. Now its standard on all 100 dollar graphics cards. And with stuff like the mid-ranged 9800gt out for under 150, this is a buyers market on graphics cards.

As to the notion that stuff is outdated... outdated doesn't mean useless. You can drop under 150 bucks on a graphics card that will play any game made quite respectably. Trying to future proof your rig by positioning yourself on the cutting edge with each release is a waste. Games just aren't there yet.

I will never "future proof" a system simply because it's not financially reasonable to even try, so I agree with you there. I saw potential with the Aegis accelerator card, but never bought one, and it was a great idea but no one, not even game dev's, bought into it.

However, there are some games (Stalker: Clear Sky, Crysis, Far Cry 2, CoD4, CoD:WaW) that play or played horribly with the video cards that were top of the line when the game was released, even with dual cards. Crysis is a great example of this; it plays great on my single GTX 285, but game play sucked on dual 8800 GTX's. Even the Stalker pre-quil plays bad on a nVidia 9800, but I haven't tested it yet on my rig so I don't know how it will play.

I think the games coming out will continue to push the hardware to evolve more than they did a few years ago, like when the original Ghost Recon was released in 2001 and UBISOFT used the very same game engine for their release of Sum of All Fears game for the movie when it came out.

[pmp]

I will never "future proof" a system simply because it's not financially reasonable to even try, so I agree with you there. I saw potential with the Aegis accelerator card, but never bought one, and it was a great idea but no one, not even game dev's, bought into it.

However, there are some games (Stalker: Clear Sky, Crysis, Far Cry 2, CoD4, CoD:WaW) that play or played horribly with the video cards that were top of the line when the game was released, even with dual cards. Crysis is a great example of this; it plays great on my single GTX 285, but game play sucked on dual 8800 GTX's. Even the Stalker pre-quil plays bad on a nVidia 9800, but I haven't tested it yet on my rig so I don't know how it will play.

I think the games coming out will continue to push the hardware to evolve more than they did a few years ago, like when the original Ghost Recon was released in 2001 and UBISOFT used the very same game engine for their release of Sum of All Fears game for the movie when it came out.

I def. don't consider crysis the benchmark everyone else did when it came out. It played like crap on my 8800 and my 9800 was playable at a lower res. I think that had way more to do with the coding than the cards. And don't get me wrong the graphics were good but far from amazing to the degree that was hyped. The other games mentioned played on my 9800 without a problem although I think the original stalker was kind of choppy when maxed.